The Euthyphro PDF

S O C R AT E S “THE UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING” - P L AT O ’ S T H E A P O L O G Y , 3 8 B A EUTHYPHRO’S FIRST DEFINITION Euthyphro’s 1st Definition: “I say that the pious is to do what I am doing now, to prosecute the wrongdoer” (Euthyphro, 5e). What’s wrong with the definition? EUTHYPHRO’...

S O C R AT E S “THE UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING” - P L AT O ’ S T H E A P O L O G Y , 3 8 B A EUTHYPHRO’S FIRST DEFINITION Euthyphro’s 1st Definition: “I say that the pious is to do what I am doing now, to prosecute the wrongdoer” (Euthyphro, 5e). What’s wrong with the definition? EUTHYPHRO’S ARGUMENT BY DIVINE EXAMPLE Euthyphro’s Argument: “These people themselves believe that Zeus is the best and most just of the gods, yet they agree that he bound his father because he unjustly swallowed his sons, and that he in turn castrated his father for similar reasons. But they are angry with me because I am prosecuting my father for his wrong doing. They contradict themselves in what they say about the gods and about me” (5e-6). What, according to Socrates, is wrong with this argument? EUTHYPHRO’S SECOND DEFINITION Euthyphro’s 2nd Definition: “What is dear to the God’s is pious, what is not is impious” (Euthyphro, 7). What’s wrong with the definition? S O C R AT E S ’ P R O O F B Y C O N T R A D I C T I O N 1. What is dear to the Gods is pious, what is not is impious 2. The pious and the impious are never the same, but always the opposite 3. The God’s are in discord. For example, some Gods love eating babies and some Gods hate it. 4. Eating babies is both pious and impious (4 follows logical from premises 1 and 3). 2 & 4 contradict each other. Something’s got to give. EUTHYPHRO’S THIRD DEFINITION Euthyphro’s 3rd Definition: “The pious is what all the gods love, and the opposite, what all the God’s hate, is impious” (Euthyphro, 9e). What’s wrong with the definition? THE EUTHYPHRO DILEMMA Socrates’ Question: “Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?” (Euthyphro, 10). Socrates is ask about the direction of explanation. What explains what? EUTHYPHRO’S MIS-STEP Socrates: Is [the pious] loved [by all the gods] because it is pious or for some other reason? Euthyprho: “For no other reason.” (Euthyphro, 10d). WHY IS THIS A MIS-STEP? QUESTION Suppose Euthyphro reversed his answer and said, “Look Socrates, before the Gods love something, it isn’t pious. The gods make something pious by all coming to love it.” What, if anything, would be wrong with this answer? N O R M AT I V E E T H I C S Normative ethicists ask, “what in general makes an action, policy, or character good, bad, or morally neutral.” DIVINE COMMAND THEORY An action, or type of action, is morally right if and only if it is commanded by God. An action, or type of action, is morally wrong if and only if it is prohibited by God. An action, or type of action, is morally neutral if and only if it is neither commanded nor prohibited by God. THE EUTHYPHRO DILEMMA APPLIED TO DIVINE COMMAND THEORY Is the good good because God commands it or does God command it because it is good? If God commanded you to kill your first begotten son, would that make killing your son right, or would that show that God is an evil tyrant? Rembrandt, The Sacrifice of Abraham QUESTION What are the salient differences between the way that Euthyphro thinks about the Gods and our reasons for obeying them and the way that Socrates thinks about the Gods and our reasons for obeying them? CRITICAL THINKING LESSONS: The Elenchus/Socrates Method: Truth is pursued in a dialogic process of question and answer. A particular line of reason advances until the participants detect a contradiction in a proposed answer. The proposed answer is revised, and the process begins again. The hope: to someday reach an answer that survives this kind of reflection. TWO KINDS OF DEFINITIONS (THERE ARE OTHERS) Ostensive Definitions: Defining something by pointing to examples of it, e.g. ‘that’s a triangle’ said while pointing to a triangle. Essentialist Definitions: Defining something in terms of its essential properties, i.e. the properties that make that kind of thing the thing it is and differentiated it from all else, e.g. “A triangle is a plane figure with three straight sides and three angles that add up to 180 degrees.” When Socrates and Plato speak of the forms, they are talking about essentialist definitions. TA S K Socrates never tells us what he thinks piety is. As you read The Apology, see if you can figure how he might define piety.